The man who was just appointed to lead the National Park Service previously made headlines for helping the owner of Washington's NFL team chop down trees that were obstructing the view of his mansion.

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Long before Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke announced Wednesday that Paul Daniel Smith will be in charge of over 20,000 employees tasked with preserving some of the country's most treasured natural and historical resources, an investigation ruled that he "inappropriately used his position to apply pressure and circumvent NPS procedures," NPR reports.

As special assistant to the Park Service director, Smith pressed officials to approve a deal in 2004 that let Washington team owner Dan Snyder level 130 trees located on protected land so the billionaire could have a better look at the Potomac River.

Biologists and horticulturists had come out against the deal Washington NFL owner Dan Snyder was trying to make with the NPS. (Richard Lipski/AP)

Deeming it "nothing tawdry" after he was reprimanded, Smith told the Washington Post in 2006, "It was a legitimate request by a landowner who had a legitimate issue with the Park Service."

In total, Snyder would clear-cut over one acre of federally preserved forest, with news of the arrangement only coming out thanks to a whistleblower who claims to have suffered years of retaliation, WTOP reports.

"Snyder, in addition to cutting all exotic species within the 200-foot easement, cut all of the native species, whether healthy, diseased, injured or considered hazardous," reads a note the Department of the Interior's report.

Investigators said that Smith contradicted himself in multiple interviews, but the U.S. attorney's office decided against prosecuting him for making false statements due to a lack of prosecutorial merit.

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Snyder was fined $1,000 and ordered to replace the 1.3 acres he destroyed.

"Dan has a strong record of leadership in the National Park Service both in Washington and on the front lines as a superintendent of a park that tells the stories of some of the most consequential moments in American history," said Zinke in a statement released Wednesday.

Dan Snyder's property on the Potomac River (Google Maps)

"I can think of no one better equipped to help lead our efforts to ensure that the National Park Service is on firm footing to preserve and protect the most spectacular places in the United States for future generations."

Smith, who failed to respond to a Daily News request for comment, will command a budget of nearly $3 billion as he oversees 417 national parks.